how did Europeans socially, culturally, intellectually respond to gunpowder in the late medieval era seems like this was a real new thing under the sun and im curious how everyone took it
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eigenrobot Retweeted
what im thinking is like gunpowder is a really distinct technology. you can't mix it up with any ancient tech. with it you must (??) have a sense that something has changed: no one in the Bible has a cannon, nor in the Iliad https://twitter.com/AlfredDolan1/status/1415495783202402305?s=19 …
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@gwern reports that 1600s people thought history was cyclical, & the idea of progress only emerged in the 1700s (https://www.gwern.net/Bakewell ), long after gunpowder. To *me*, it always seemed like the key insight is calculus & circular history is abandoned rapidly after exposure to it1 reply 0 retweets 5 likes -
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